Flames by Jessica F.F. Evans

Seven years ago Jenna Farley left her hometown of Cedarville, Indiana and vowed never to look back. She created a thriving business and a quiet life on the sunny beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama. But seven years and hundreds of miles can’t keep the nightmares of her past and visions of a hellish future from plaguing her dreams.

With the fate of her first love resting solely in her hands Jenna must go back to the town she despises and risk everything for a man who is not at all pleased to find her on his doorstep talking about a murderer on the loose and asking him to trust her.

Nathaniel McGregor has put many years and many women between him and the memory of the only woman he ever loved. Now she's back and doing what she does best. Turning his life upside down and warning him of an obsessed pyromaniac hell bent on killing him. Can he trust her? Does he even have a choice? The clock is ticking, both their lives are on the line and they must work together to stop a determined killer or die.

My review:

The light writing style that Evans uses allows you to just sit back and enjoy the story while she takes you on a wild ride through the eyes of two individuals who have had their fair share of relationship problems. She seamlessly combines the normal with the not so normal into a story that kept me captivated throughout. Evans works suspense and comedic relief together nicely in order to create a story that you won’t be able to put down.

I definitely got a kick out of the main characters in this novel. They were simultaneously very real and out of this world. They were also quite easy to identify with, making it easy and enjoyable to immerse yourself in the story. There were definitely times when I wanted to throw a pillow at one of the characters and ask them what in the world they were thinking, only to realize I probably would have done the exact same thing. It added a very personal aspect to the story. Character development in the supporting cast wasn’t extremely thorough; however, being that they played quite minor roles in the novel further development would have been detrimental to the story as a whole.

This novel was definitely a quick and captivating read. Evans takes you through a journey that has you on the edge of your seat with suspense, laughing at the characters and their relationship issues, and wondering what you’d do if the one person you loved didn’t believe you or believe in you, regardless of how unbelievable the situation. Would you be able to forgive and forget?